The hunts will occur at various times between Aug. 15 and Dec. 24, 2017 on 28 select properties in Colusa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Siskiyou counties. Specific details for all 31 elk hunts can be found at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/SHARE#elk. CDFW will be accepting applications through Monday, July 24.

The SHARE program was created to provide additional hunting, fishing and other recreational access on private lands in California by offering incentives to private landowners. Participating landowners receive liability protection and compensation for providing public access to or through their land for wildlife-dependent recreational activities.

“CDFW has been working to increase private lands access for California hunters. In the last year, we’ve enrolled two new elk hunting properties — one in Colusa County, the other in Siskiyou County,” said Victoria Barr, CDFW’s SHARE program coordinator. “We’re now up to 31 different elk hunts, which demonstrates great progress for the program.”

All elk tags will be distributed through a random draw process. While hunters may take only one elk per year in California, these hunts offer additional opportunities beyond those issued through the general Big Game Drawing. SHARE hunt applications can be purchased by anyone with a valid 2017 California big game hunting license from any CDFW license office or online at www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales.

An $11.37 non-refundable application fee will be charged for each hunt application. Applicants may look up their draw results and download their hunt packets on July 28 by entering their customer information on CDFW’s website at www.ca.wildlifelicense.com/InternetSales.

So what is the current elk population, and how does it compare to estimated populations, pre-european contact? From what Im reading, there are currently about 430 Roosevelt Elk that live (at least part time) in Redwood National and Redwood State parks.

It seems that, throughout the historic range of this species, the number of individuals and the current range are a speck of pre-market hunting population/range.

Logic would seem to indicate that we should not be hunting these animals until we can reestablish a health population. Hunting is not an effective method of culling herds. Predators target weakened, sick, old, or young animals; hunters do not.

Proceeds from hunting do contribute to conservation. Which highlights our failure as a society to preserve biodiversity without monetizing wildlife and land, rather than serving as an argument in favor of hunting animals whose populations are a tiny fraction of what they should be.

I do hunt, I believe many more people should hunt, but perhaps not this species.

DFW compromise between the recommendations of scientist and the desires of the public. This is utter nonsense.

You hit the nail on the head though. Not enough funding for these animals from people who say they care, so 95 percent of the revenue to continue the herds growing population comes from hunting. And non profit hunting groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation who has purchasd over 100,000 acres in prime elk country in California. If people donated more many, they would not need the funding from hunting.

Maybe you’re right, I’d have to read more on this specific issue. However from my understanding, elk tags are still highly regulated and difficult to obtain. I tend to defer to the judgement of Fish and Game, after seeing what crippling them through legislation when it comes to mountain lions has resulted in.

There’s also a benefit for the herds if they view humans as the predators we are. A species that isn’t hunted at all may get too comfortable with humans, feeding off our gardens and crops instead of their own food sources, feeling too comfortable around busy roads, and being at an instinctual disadvantage when hunting is reintroduced.

I’d love to hunt elk as long as F&G officials deem it beneficial to the ecosystem.

Yes elk tags are highly regulated and difficult to obtain. The question is, if there is only a tiny fraction of the species left, should they be hunted at all? The problem with fish and wildlife is that they have to compromise between the findings of scientist and the desires of the public.

Im not aware of the mountain lion issue you mentioned. I do know that if you leave livestock outside, during the night, in lion country, you cant reasonably blame lions for killing your livestock.

I agree that elk should know to be wary of humans. However, Im sure this can be accomplished without shooting them.

Mountain lion hunting was banned by the voters around 1996, when numbers were very low. However, humans were their only major predator, and now there more than the ecosystem can handle. One mountain lion can have a hunting area of 100 square miles. Livestock and pets aside, they’re wiping out other animal populations. I now see more cougar deer kills in one year than I did in previous decades.

Riiight, the populations of predators is not limited by predation, nor should it be. Livestock and pets have to be cared for in an intelligent manner, in lion country. As for lions wiping out other animal populations, maybe we will see evidence of that, but we dont at this time. First hand personal observations can be misleading.

From DFW;

“Without an ongoing statewide mountain lion study, it is impossible to know what is happening on a statewide basis with populations. However, there are indications that mountain lion activity, such as depredation, attacks on people, and predation on prey populations, peaked in 1996, then decreased somewhat, and have remained stable for the past several years.”

Regardless of the pre contact population there is one glaring fact that many over look. Roosevelt elk are not native to this area. They were planted here after the native elk (a distinctly different specie with different habits) were driven to extinction by non native hunters embued with the power of firearms.

The Roosevelt elk are an invasive species. That have different eating habits than the animals that they were intended to replace.

Additionally to that the local population of elk are dangerously inbred.

Hey stupid more elk in Del Norte county get ran over On the highway , in the northwest California hunt there are only 15 tags for Humboldt and Del Norte Counties there were 62 bulls in my backyard at different times this year there are at least 4 or 5 different herds most in the agricultural land and several more herds in the Redwood National park you cannot hunt in the park so your comment about there being enough elk numbers is BS almost 80 percent of this county is federal,state or county land that you can’t hunt and the private land owners where a lot of the elk hang out at want to charge you an arm and a leg to hunt their property plus a trophy fee, but things are looking up maybe Trump will come and down size the Redwood National Park like he did in Utah the federal gov owns all this land and does nothing with it the elk don’t even like to stay there at least when the timber companies owned it they logged and created food and habitat for the elk.